Donaire complaining that Arce wants too much money

By Chris Williams: WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire’s hoped for December money fight/mismatch against little Jorge Arce (61-6-2, 46 KO’s) might not be taking place because Arce is asking for too much money for what Donaire’s promotional company Top Rank is willing to offer him. The problem is Donaire is getting a huge payday, reportedly over $750,000, possibly as much as a $1 million, and that leaves a small window for what Arce can get unless Top Rank is willing to find the money somehow.

Donaire said to Philstar.com “Our fight is not pushing through because they’re [Arce] demanding a lot of money…I already have a minimum fee. I have a set price. But they want more [than what’s being offered]. For them, I’m the biggest money out there.”

Donaire went onto say that he’s giving Arce two weeks to agree to the fight, and if he doesn’t then Donaire will rest for the remainder of 2012 to let his injured left hand heal.

It’s Donaire and Top Rank who badly want little 5’4″ Arce to fight next. If they don’t want to pay him the money he’s asking for then why don’t they look to step up Donaire’s competition another level by matching him against the best fighters at super bantamweight like Guillermo Rigondeaux or Abner Mares? It would be a nice change for Donaire to see him fighting the best instead of past their best fighters, unknown fighters or guys that have recently been knocked out.

This whole think about fighters pricing themselves out of fights with Donaire seems to be a reoccurring thing. Donaire has said that Arce, Guillermo Rigondeaux and Anselmo Moreno have all priced themselves out of fights with him. If this is the case then maybe Top Rank needs to either find the additional money to pay for Donaire’s opponents or offer him a smaller minimum fee so that boxing fans can see him finally fight some of the guys that they’ve been wanting him to fight for a long time.

Seeing Donaire fight old guys like Toshiaki Nishioka or little known guys like Jeffrey Mathebula isn’t appealing at all. Actually, Nishioka was an unknown too, and a complete waste of time. It comes down to this: If Donaire’s promotional company can’t find the money to pay for him to fight quality opponents then maybe Donaire should vacate his WBO super bantamweight title and just focus on fighting whoever he wants. There won’t be as much pressure on him because he won’t have a title. But to see Donaire fighting guys like Nishioka and saying he’s better than the top super bantamweights like Rigondeaux and Mares, it’s a joke.

I can understand why Arce is asking for as much money as he can get for this fight, because he stands no chance against Donaire. It’s a mismatch simply put. Arce couldn’t even beat Jesus Rojas, so how is he going to be able to beat the towering Donaire? Arce belongs at super flyweight, not super bantamweight. He’s much too small for this weight class and he’s going to get destroyed. This is why I don’t blame him for trying to get as much money as possible. If he’s going to lose against a much bigger and younger fighter like Donaire then he should be paid well for it.